Method of producing gyromagnetic resonance



Aug. 19, 1969 MAKoTo TAKEucHI ET AI. 3,462,676

METHOD OF PRODUCING GYROMAGNETIC RESONANCE Filed Nov. 29. 196e z'sheeIs-sheet 1 www Jamrm) :11i :11S ,Ir-'2 Il?,

l nl nl? na JW-df) o lf=l I =2 .II 1.() j I p innig?) Wl/(P) I. .Y I I.. .--w-.muv M I" "Mm" MIXER 4 5 e 'l' LMT 12 '3 RF- BRIDGL HF R F W Imnnwme MIXER TRANSMITIER"*' CIRCUIT AMPLIFIER MIXER AMPLIFIER ,a a I.ocAI. AuDIo 2 osclLLnIoR AMPLIFIER `PHASE. INDICATOR DETECTOR AuDIo PHASE oscILIMoR SHIFTER nited States Patent 3,462,676 METHD F PRQBUCKNG GYROMAGNETHC RESNANCE Makoto Takeuchi and Kazuo Nakagawa, Tokyo, Japan, assignors to Nihon Denshi Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Nov. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 597,706 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 4, 1965, t0/74,546 Int. Cl. H03h 3/ 12 U.S. Cl. S24-..5 12 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLUSURE A method of producing gyromagnetic resonance in a sample by exposing the sample to an RF magnetic field normal to a polarizing magnetic field in which the sample is positioned. The latter field is modulated using an oscillator which superimposes an audio frequency field on the polarizing field. The modulation index is less than 1. By adjusting the polarizing field, the sample is made resonant with the RF field. A signal given off by the sample is detected, processed for direct comparison with a signal from the oscillator, and compared to determine sample resonance, thereby only the single side band resonance signal is desirably obtained.

This application relates to method for producing gyromagnetic resonance and more particularly to improved methods utilizing side band resonance techniques for producing and detecting gyrornagnetic resonance of nuclei which exhibit large chemical shifts. The present invention is an improvement on a previous invention described in United States Patent No. 3,147,428, entitled, Gyromagnetic Resonance Apparatus.

In the side band resonance technique, the motion of the nuclei having magnetic moment and spin and located in a polarizing magnetic field HI is given by Blochs equation as follows:

where MX, ll/fy and MZ are the magnetization components in a mutually perpendicular direction, HX and Hy are components of the rotating RF magnetic elds orientated in a plane perpendicular to the polarizing magnetic field HZ, T is the gyromagnetic ratio, Mo is the thermal equilibrium value in the Z-direction magnetization, T1 is the spinlattice relaxation time and T2 is the spin-spin relaxation time.

Now, when the said polarizing magnetic field Hz is modulated by an audio frequency magnetic field with a modulation amplitude Hm and an angular frequency wm, HZ at a certain time t is given by Where:

w1=angular frequency ofthe radio frequency driving magnetic field,

3,462,676 Patented ug. 19, 1969 mm=the portion which -varies slowly in m, hmzthe value which is converted from the amplitude of the RF magnetic field Hl to frequency units.

If we take Equations 1, 2 and 3, and substitute equations 5, 6 and 7, we obtain the two equations as follows:

where h* denotes the complex conjugate of h and Im (mhi) the imaginary part of (mhf).

The general solution of these equations are given as follows:

The polarizing magnetic field I-ID and frequency w1 at which maximum resonance occurs are selected so that the denominators of Formulae 10 and 11 exhibit minimum values, i.e., when Aw-lnwm=0 or w1=wolnwm where 11:0, :LL i2, i3 The first, second and third side band, etc., correspond to the n numbers (11:1, 2, 3, etc.) the frequencies at this instance being 2 F TH0, T (Hoiw-Tm), T (Hoiand so on respectively and the polarizing magnetic field corresponding to the above value is:

and so on.

Each side band is separated by a frequency of wm or a magnetic field wm/T. The side band signal for a given value of n includes spectra with infinite frequency components which are indicated by the k index in Formula l0. In other words, modulated frequency harmonics viz. w1, wliwm, w1i2wm, wliSwm are included. In this case, the signal comprising the -wm modulation frequency component is produced only when magnetic resonance occurs. If a lock-in detection system which detects only the above component is utilized, the DC. fluctuation level due to the drift arising from the driving RF power does not appear in the resonance signal. Thus, spectra with stabilized base lines are obtained. As is well known, this is the principle of the base line stabilizer system which is in general use. This method is also used for measuring the chemical shift of a sample. For example, when the polarizing magnetic field H0 is modulated by a magnetic field with a small amplitude audio frequency (wm), side band signals separated by ywm appear. Therefore, if wm is now accurately set, the precise chemical shift of signals which appear between the two side band signals for 11:0 and 11=1 is obtained by interpolation. However, when this conventional method is used as the base line stabilizer, this is limited in the case of chemical shifts smaller than the modulation frequency wm. Therefore, when measuring samples with large chemical shifts (e.g., about 30 kc. at a 60 mc. driving magnetic field) such as with protons which are adjacent to paramagnetic metals and nuclei other than protons, the side band signals overlap, thus making signal analysis extremely diicult, if the usual modulation fequency (2 kc.-5 kc.) is used.

It is true that even under such circumstances, it may be theoretically possible to eliminate this phenomenon by applying a larger modulation frequency (e.g., 30 kc.) than the chemical shifts. Practically speaking, however, the use of such a large frequency presents certain problems in as much as that when increasing the modulation frequency, the amplitude of the modulating magnetic iield Hm needs to be increased in proportion to the frequency in order to maintain a constant modulation index (=1Hm/wm). Furthermore, since, except in the case of the hydrogen nucleus, the gyromagnetic ratio -r is comparatively small, it is necessary to apply a stronger modulation magnetic field in order to maintain a constant modulation index ,8. As a result, the H,rn power has to be increased, thus causing a direct flux leak from the modulation coil to the NMR detection coil. In practice this technique possesses many problems and diiculties from an economical and technological point of view.

Therefore, by utilizing our invention the above listed dil'liculties are appreciably overcome. In other words, it becomes possible to apply the usual modulation frequencies and amplitudes and at the same time to substantially eliminate signal overlapping.

The main features of our invention may be listed as follows: to enable the resonance signal of a sample having a nucleus of which the chemical shift is considerably large to be measured by keeping the signal base line stable, to provide an improved high resolution gyromagnetic resonance spectrometer and more particularly to enable the gyromagnetic resonances of nuclei such as P31, F19, C13, and protons which are adjacent to paramagnetic metals, all of which show large chemical shifts, to be satisfactorily measured, to enable only one side band to be measured by setting the modulation index at less than 1, by choosing a driving RF magnetic eld with a sufciently large value so that only the lirst side band signal reaches the optimum condition and by setting the parameter of the filter system so as to pass only one frequency component. These and other features and advantages, will become apparent after perusing the following specication drawings Where:

FIGURE 1 is a graphical illustration of the resonance signals obtained from a side band system;

FIGURE 2 is a graphical illustration showing only one frequency component from each side band signal as shown in FIGURE l;

FIGURES 3(a) and (b) are graphical illustrations used for theoretically explaining the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a block diagram showing the side band resonance gyromagnetic resonance spectrometer system as used in the present invention in which the audio frequency modulation of the polarizing magnetic field is utilized to produce a side band resonance signal; the system being of the single coil type;

FIGURE 5 shows the spectrum obtained by using the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 shows the block diagram of another type of gyromagnetic resonance spectrometer system designed in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to FIGURE l, this shows graphically main band and side bands of the resonance signals. From Formula 11 the following relationships are given for the respective components of the side band signals having a frequency component of (w1-wm) viz.,

function. The relative intensities of these signals as a function of modulation index are given as follows:

TABLE I Jitmt) Iztit) Jatzt) It can be, therefore, easily deduced that the most optimum value which gives a maximum value of J1()J0() in the region 1-2 does exist, and by means of accurate calculation, we can determine the maximum value when the modulation index ,8 is near 1.5. With the conventional apparatus, when using the base line stabilizer for detecting a conventional side band signal, =1.8 is normally used in the main band. On the other hand, the present invention uses a. modulation index less than 1 in the first side band.

As apparent from the above table, J2 ()J1(/3) and J3(/8)J2() are less than 1/1000 compared with J1(,B)J0() at, for example, =0.02. Therefore, when measuring the resonance spectrum at I8=0.02, only two spectrum lines of the frequency component 1v1-wm, at (11=1, k=0) and (11:0, k=-1) can actually be observed, and are shown in FIGURE 3(11). The signal amplitude of the harmonic components, for example tol-201m, tur-310m, etc., are represented by J()]n 2(), In()]n 3(,6), etc., which are shown in Formula ll. These signals can be neglected however, since they rapidly attenuate in excess of components Jn()Jn 1(;S). Moreover, the components having frequency w1 and wl-l-wm are shown by and J 21.55). kii) which may be neglected since the parameter of the lter system is so selected that only one frequency component wl-wm is detected. Thus, we further analyze in detail the two components of (n=l, k=0) and (11:0, k=1) which are shown in FIGURE 3(11). Since these two signals have mutually opposing polarities, spectrum analysis can be carried out by selecting one polarity only. However, when one of the signals in the spectrum to be observed and the other signal of opposite polarity spectrum in the adjacent side band overlap, only the difference of the two spectra is observed. In such cases it is diicult to identify the respective signals, therefore, a method must be devised whereby the signal represented by one side of the spectrum is removed. Now as is shown in FIGURE 3(a), the signals of (111:1, k=0) and (n=0, k=-1) appear the same, but their polarities are different. However, when considering the nuclear magnetic resonance saturation phenomenon, the magnetic resonance absorption condition changes.

The general equation of the frequency spectrum for v1-wm is determined -by Formulae 12 and 13, and the real part in this equation is given as nwm) T2 cos (w1-m)t+ sin (w1-mut] h- 1 l- (Aw-l '/lwm)2T22-i` T2H12Jn() T1712 (14) Now instead of the rotating field, the single oscillating magnetic field in the direction along the X-axis is given as If we let the in phase component and the out of phase component of sample magnetic vsusceptibility X be represented by X' and x respectively, the magnetization is denoted as follows:

By comparing Formulae 14 with 16 under w1 wm, X' and X" may be expressed as follows:

X "awowwwmrrzwf#Hammam 18) where X' represents the dispersion mode and X the absorption mode. Now in the case of observing the absorption mode only, Equation 18 is expressed as follows since .Aw-i-nwm equals zero when maximum resonance conditions are satisfied.

7M0T2Jn() 'In-1 X 2t1+72H12T1T2J2 1 19) Formula 19 is compared with Formula 20 which shows the absorption mode and which is the solution obtained from Blochs simultaneous Equations l, 2 and 3, when no modulation is applied.

We note that the saturation factor when the polarizing field is not modulated is as follows:

Z=1+T2H12T1TZ and when modulated as follows:

ZI: 11V 17'21LJ112T1T22J112 (22) which when applied to Equation 19, ensures maximum signal intensity as follows:

4 (23) On the other hand, if the said H1 is applied to the main band signal (n=1) of Equation 19, under the relationship Xmax. (n=1) the signal intensity is given by X "adagp/fawn* 2000 Therefore, by setting the modulation index at less than 1 (in this case ,8:002 approx.) and by selecting an RF magnetic field with a suiciently large value so that only the first side band signal reaches the optimum condition, (in other words, the main band signal saturates), and further, by selecting a signal whose frequency component is u1-wm and by setting the parameter of the electric amplifier system so that the other components such as w1, wl-l-wm, wlilwm, and so on are filtered out, only one signal (given by Equation 25) can be obtained. This saturation is now shown in FIGURE 3(b).

We will now describe how to select the absorption and dispersion modes from the signal.

First of all the signal expressed by Equation 25 is mixed with the reference signal cos (wlt-i-b) derived from the RF oscillator, so as to obtain a beat signal which after being passed through a heterodyne detector is given by mi (wm) (27) After then being phase detected by using the magnetic `field modulation signal cos (wmt-l-gb) as a reference sig- Therefore, when (p0-\//=0, the dispersion mode is given to be analyzed, thus making it easy to maintain the phase p0 constant. Moreover, in this method, after having set phase p0 mode selection is carried out by the phase 1p only. Furthermore, it is unnecessary to change p0, since mode selection does not depend on bridge circuit unbalance or induction coil leakage which are utilized for mode selection in the conventional method. Thus the bridge detection circuit can be operated under perfect balance conditions. Even if unbalance is brought about by temperature variations, it can be neglected since mode selection depends almost entirely on the phase :,b.

Accordingly, we will now explain an embodiment in accordance with the above mentioned theory.

FIGURE 4 shows a block schematic of the present invention. The sample 2 is located in a strong unidirectional magnetic field formed by pole pieces 1a and 1b. An RF coil 3 which is oriented so as to be perpendicular to the unidirectional magnetic field forms a close coupling relationship with the sample. An RF transmitter 4 supplies an RF driving field H1(w1=21r 60 mc. for example), to the sample via a bridge detection circuit 5. A pair of modulation coils 6a and 6b are arranged coaxially with respect to the unidirectional magnetic field, to which a 2 kc. modulation current is supplied by means of an audio frequency oscillator 7. This modulation frequency is larger than the half width of the resonance signal Af, and smaller than the maximum frequency of the chemical shift. The RF driving field H1 is selected so as to indicate optimum resonance conditions at the first side band (n=1) (this power is about 100 times larger than the power in the case of the unmodulated method).

When the unidirectional magnetic field is swept by means of sweep coil (not shown) and only when the resonance condition indicated by the equation below (which was obtained from Formula l) are satisfied, gyromagnetic resonance occurs and the resonance signals appear at intervals of 21rfm/r from the center field H0. After which, resonance signals having a frequency comare fed into the RF amplifier 8 after passing through the bridge detection circuit.

fi-l-(k1)fm(k=-oo This signal is then fed into the intermediate frequency amplifier 12 which includes a crystal filter. The band-pass width of this filter is selected so as to be much larger than the resonance signal half width and is selected so as to be much smaller than the modulation frequency fm and the center frequency of the said band-pass width is also selected to a suitable frequency side band (for example, k=0 in Formula l0). In other words,

is now set as the said center frequency. The band-pass width of the filter is set at 500 c.p.s. at each side of the said center frequency. In such cases, the band width of the resonance signal which may be carried by frequency fm component is fully covered in the said pass width, and the center band signal such as f1 and other side band frequency such as ffl-fm which are undesirable are completely eliminated from the band-pass region. In other words, all frequency components with the exception of the fi-fm component are filtered out. When this signal is mixed with the output f1 derived from the mixer 11 at the mixer 13 stage, then an output signal having only one component fm is selected from the said mixer 13, which is then fed into a phase detector 15, via audio amplifier 14. At the same time, the audio frequency oscillator 7 supplies a reference signal to the phase detector 15 via phase shifter 16.

Thus, by setting the reference signal to 0 or 90 by means of the phase shifter 16, either the dispersion mode or absorption mode can be respectively selected. As a result, the output signal is indicated by indicator 17. Thus by carrying out the above described method, the spectra of F19 (for example) as shown in FIGURE 5 can be obtained. This signal is obtained from a sample of a derivative of pentafiuorocyclobutane, and as the external standard the trifiuoroacetic acid is added. It will be noted here that there is no base line fluctuation, and unnecessary spectra such as main band Spectra and other side band spectra except for n=1 are completely eliminated.

FIGURE 6, which utilizes the same units as FIGURE 4, shows an alternative arrangement in respect of the present invention.

Here, the mixer 13 and the audio amplifier 14 which are used in FIGURE 4 are not included. In this case the output signal from the intermediate frequency amplifier 12 which has only one frequency component fi-fm is fed directly into the phase detector 15 and then indicated by the indicator 17.

The f1 output from the mixer 11 and the fm output from the audio oscillator 7 are mixed by a mixer 18 after which, the beated output fil-:lfm is fed into an intermediate frequency amplifier 19 including a crystal filter. In this amplifier only the component of the frequency fi-fm is selected, which is in turn fed into the phase detector 15 through a phase shifter 16, as a reference signal.

As already explained in detail, the present invention provides a means whereby only one side band signal is obtained even through the unidirectional magnetic field may be swept wider than the width of modulation frequency 21rfm. Consequently, it is possible to analyze samples containing nuclei such as F19, C13 and P31 which exhibit large chemical shifts and protons which are adjacent to paramagnetic metals, due to the fact that signal overlapping or superimposition does not occur.

This invention may be used in either a single or crossed-coil magnetic resonance system.

While certain presently preferred embodiments of our invention have been described, it is to be understood that it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. The method of producing gyromagnetic resonance in a sample which comprises:

(A) positioning the sample in a polarizing magnetic field;

(B) subjecting the samples to a radio frequency magnetic field normal to said polarizing field;

(C) modulating the polarizing field by an oscillator which superimposes an audio frequency field on the polarizing field, the modulation index of said modulation being less than unity;

(D) adjusting the polarizing magnetic field to cause said sample to be in resonance with the radio frequency magnetic field;

(E) detecting the signal from the sample when it is at resonance;

(F) processing said sample signal to make it comparable with a signal from said oscillator by:

(a) feeding the signal to an RF mixer,

(b) feeding a local oscillator circuit to said mixer,

(c) filtering the output of the RF mixer to produce a signal the frequency of which is equal to a preselected intermediate frequency plus or minus the frequency of the audio oscillator,

(d) feeding the output signal from the filter into a second mixer, and

(e) feeding into said second mixer a reference signal of intermediate frequency, said reference signal being a signal obtained by mixing a signal corresponding in frequency to the radio frequency magnetic field and to the output of the local oscillator to produce an output signal having a frequency equal to that of the audio oscillator; and

(G) comparing the processed sample signal with the audio oscillator signal to produce a signal indicative of sample resonance.

2. The method described in claim 1 in which the output signal from the second mixer and the output signal from the oscillator are fed to a phase detector for comparison, the signal produced by the detector 1being proportional to the difference in phase between the input signals.

3. The method described in claim 2 in which the signal from the audio oscillator is shifted before feeding it to the phase detector.

4. The method of producing gyromagnetic resonance in a sample which comprises:

(A) positioning the sample in a polarizing magnetic field;

(B) subjecting the sample to a radio frequency magnetic field normal to said polarizing field;

(C) modulating the polarizing field by an oscillator which superimposes an audio frequency field on the polarizing field, the modulation index of said modulation being less than unity;

(D) adjusting the polarizing magnetic field to cause said sample to be in resonance with the radio frequency magnetic field;

(E) detecting the signal from the sample when it is at resonance;

(F) converting the sample signal and a signal from the audio oscillator to signals of the same intermediate frequency by:

(a) feeding the sample signal to an RF mixer,

(b) feeding a local oscillator circuit to said mixer,

(c) filtering the output of the RF mixer to produce a signal the frequency of which is equal to a preselected intermediate frequency,

(d) feeding into a second mixer a signal of intermediate frequency, said signal being a signal obtained by mixing a signal corresponding in frequency to the radio frequency magnetic field and the output of the local oscillator,

(e) feeding the output of the audio oscillator to the second mixer, and

(f) filtering the output of the second mixer to produce a reference signal having the same intermediate frequency as the filtered signal from the first mixer; and

(G) comparing the converted signals to produce a signal indicative of sample resonance.

5. The method described in claim 4 in which the converted signals are fed to a phase detector for comparison to produce an output signal proportional to the difference in phase of the two signals.

6. The method described in claim 5 in which the signal of intermediate frequency produced by conversion of the signal from the audio oscillator is shifted in phase before being fed into the phase detector.

7. The method of producing gyromagnetic resonance in a sample which comprises:

(A) positioning the sample in a polarizing magnetic field;

(B) subjecting the sample to a radio frequency magnetic field produced iby a first radio frequency, the direction of the field being normal to the polarizing field;

(C) modulating the polarizing field by an oscillator which superimposes an audio frequency field on the polarizing field, the modulation index of said modulation being less than unity;

(D) adjusting the polarizing magnetic field to cause said sample to be in resonance with the radio frequency magnetic field;

(E) detecting the signal from the sample when it is at resonance;

(F) mixing the detected signal with a second radio frequency signal to produce `an intermediate frequency sample signal;

(G) mixing the radio frequency signals to produce an intermediate radio frequency signal; and

(H) detecting the difference between the two intermediate frequency signals.

8. The method described in claim 7 in which the intermediate frequency sample signal comprises an absorption mode and a dispersion mode and is compared with the oscillator signal in a phase detector and in which the phase of the oscillator signal is shifted to cancel one of the two modes.

9. The method described in claim 7 in which the strength of the radio frequency magnetic field is adjusted to substantially reduce the radio yfrequency component in the sample signal to leave the first side band as the predominate signal.

10. The method as described in claim 7 and including comparing the detected `difference with a reference signal from the oscillator.

11. The method described in claim 7 in which the sample signal is filtered prior to detecting the difference between it and the intermediate RF signal.

12. The method described in claim 7 in which the intermediate radio frequency signal is mixed with a signal from the oscillator to produce a reference signal which is compared with the intermediate frequency sample signal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,996,658 8/ 1961 Kirchner 324-05 3,127,556 3/1964 Gielow S24-0.5 3,147,428 9/1964 Anderson B24-0.5 3,173,084 3/1965 Anderson 324-().5

RUDOLPH V. ROLINEC, Primary Examiner M. J. LYNCH, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,462,676

August 19, 1969 Makoto Takeuchi et al.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4 Table l first column, line l thereof, "l" should read 0 line 73, "k=1" should read 1 =l Column S, line 28, the formula should appear as shown below:

m= X/ ZHl cos w1t+ X 2Hl sin wlt Column 6, line Z, "0,02" should read 0.02 line 5,

should read Signed and sealed this 9th day of June 1970 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. Attesting Officer WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. Commissioner` of Patents 

